Work in progress

I’ve been working on a small piece for some time. My work table goes through various changes daily as I try different threads and such but still usually manages to remain like this!

I started this piece by painting random marks on a piece of fabric. It was a free workshop aimed at a final roll simply of marks. As always I ended going a completely different direction. Because I had discovered a lovely wee bird in the painting I decided to capitalize on the cheeky wee creature. But she has challenged me in lots of ways. I could see her plainly but was not sure if others would if she was not emphasized in some way. How to do that, became a series of trial and error maneuvers. I tried highlighting her with other strips of yellow, but I felt it wasn’t quite enough so because I was also experimenting with trying out embroidery stitches I have not used for a while I decided to use a herringbone over the strips of fabric. Then I laced some blue metallic thread through that just to see…. I have this other gorgeous ribbon like thread that I thought would make a good branch framework. I like it but she is waiting to tell me if she is finished. My work table is a little tidier but mostly the bits are waiting too. But here she is in close up.

Variations

Trying my hand at neurographic drawing was a fun exercise. I really got going with fluid lines and using my brush markers was like painting without the possible mess. I did some small ones in a sketch book that weren’t too detailed but then I thought I’d try a bigger one and maybe make it the extension of my last years embroidered word design, abstract.

I liked it for a couple of days but decided it didn’t really work so I got my scissors out and started cutting out lines and weaving them together and soon I had a great nest. One of the shapes I randomly cut was a bird shape and the image began to take shape. I had to add a wee eye and eye stripe . There was a tiny triangle left over that made a great throat marking . She sat in the nest quite well but needed some context. Out came the handmade paper I have always thought looked like tree trunks, and a soft yellow magazine page made a sunny background, some squiggly painted lines on a chunk of cotton resembled branches to me and the nest was anchored in a tree on a sunny day. I had just received some lovely silk yarn in greens and browns that made shadows and vines and I declared this variation on a theme finished.

Words

One thing that everyone seems to do now is to think about a word that might keep them company for a whole year. Steer them when they lose focus or despair about their own intentions and how sometimes they get sidetracked as daily life takes over our existence. There are lots of ways to reinforce these words or help remind yourself. Some simply note it down in their journal, others write it in something that they can pocket and run their fingers over or some post a sticky note on their computer screen.

However you do it it lends itself to a bit of creativity as well as being a reminder.

Last year my embroidery group set a challenge of embroidering a word in some way. It could be how the word made you feel or something it made you think of or you could embroider the actual word. I chose to try making a design out of a word and embroider that design. I had read in a design book that one should do a number of designs, 25 was the suggested number, not just stop with the first or second one for those end up usually being the usual design and that if you want something truly different you keep trying things until you find something you like. I needless to say didn’t do 25, but I did do a bunch and I think I shared my design of “Abstract’ with you here last November.

this year I decided to embroider my word for the year. I also was learning a new Needle Lace stitch and wanted to try that as edging around the word. Then I got carried away and collaged it onto some papers and now it has a prominent place to hang in my studio as an ever present reminder of what I want to remember to do this year. It was a very enjoyable concentration of energy exercise,

Feb 3

Hello.

Last year I did a course with Jane Dunnewold, where we worked on establishing our personal archetypes and began discovering just how they influenced our art work. It was a fascinating journey. We had the opportunity to present a work that had been made during the year and which referenced your archetypes in some way.

I will elaborate later on the archetypes but for now I wanted to show you my finished piece.

“discussion on the line” is my piece.

The design was taken from an experimental painting I completed a long time ago and I traced it onto a piece of white linen, hand embroidered it then painted the background with inktense blocks. I stretched it onto stretcher bars and finished it with a surround of orange silk yarn.

jan 19

Where does the time go? The last photo I put here is the complete embroidery roll I did a while back, as a challenge with an embroidery group I meet with. It was decided that we should each take a roll of fabric and do some stitch practice on it . I being the rebel that I am couldn’t commit myself to practicing or keeping track of new stitches so I chose to look at this project as a doodle practice using stitch. so I drew and stitched or simply stitched randomly in a wiggling line or collaged some wee bits of fabric onto the linen then stitch embellished that. It was great fun to just have something to hand to pick up whenever I had a few minutes to sew. it is not a pristine finished project, rather a slow stitch scrap became something in its own right.Oh and the linen was a pair of my husbands pants that I cut up after he ,of course, wore some holes in places… and that made it soft and pliable to sew .

Jan 10

and now it is November...

I have been embroidering more than I used to. The fascination of different threads is all consuming. And, I have a small group of people who also embroider. It is interesting how when one has a group of friends who appreciate the same things you do how much more you work to make interesting pieces. This same group of people agree to try certain studies… most people call them samples but That word sends me fleeing… so I call them studies. This particular challenge was to embroider a word. It could be the word itself or the idea behind the word or…. if you wanted to do, whateve,r as long as it was around a word… hey that’s OK! My kind of challenge absolutely.

I decided I would embroider the word. I found a scrap of fabric and did the work. I read that when one wants to do a design one should try 25 different suggestions, otherwise you may be falling into the desgin that is the easiest or the most common iteration . I didn’t do 25 … but I did draw several designs and this is the one I chose to sew. Can you see the word, or does my poet brain obscure how I see.

cheers

End of October

It’s been a wonderful fall here, but today we had the first dusting of snow and freezing rain . The leaves are mostly gone but this bush at the corner of my house was a bright spot in the light.

I have been embroidering a piece for a few weeks now that is mostly orange. Many of the same shades here. Pictures to come soon.

august

Back in January I hinted that there was a piece of work that I was finishing but was not yet ready to share.

it is finished and I hope you enjoy looking.

This is a photo I abstracted in photoshop and then hand stitched it onto a piece of linen. I used rayon thread and the shape developed naturally as the stitching got more intense.It took me a whole year to do but I enjoyed every moment.

I named it stream!

May30

Months ago I did some collages and I have been playing around with crops, to see if some parts are more appealing than others. Now I’m thinking I may try and print these on fabric to add stitching to see where that might take the piece. Here’s a crop to start, and perhaps it will come with me on a trip both figuratively and literally to see what might happen.

feb 1

It has been quite hard to get motivated to do work this past month. Whether it is the pandemic, still, or the rest that I usually desire after the holidays, or just a block is hard to tell. But I really want to resume my mixed media online course, and yet I have been procrastinating. I have always had trouble with the idea that I should make small pieces as samples that I can use then to make bigger work. Perhaps the reason for this is my dislike of doing things twice. Part of me doesn’t want all the clutter of wee pieces that have no purpose other than experimentation. But with this course I have done a number of smaller pieces to practice the techniques. I painted some mini abstracts months ago and put them away over the holidays just because… but this past week I got them out again in an attempt to get going.

I have recently begun to read, A Primer of Visual Literacy by Donis A Dondis . I always seem to read when I’m having trouble doing. It seems to clear my mind . Somehow I usually find a book that helps me understand more about this art making process, at the very least, and at the very best it clears up the issue that seems to have me stymied. I’m not quite sure where this one is leading but it is encouraging me to look at the work I have done and see if it speaks.

The three little square ones, the top and the two on the bottom,were the first I tried, I find them quite interesting, what they might be saying …. “Well?” The three pieces in the middle were cut from other small pieces. These ones I looked at with a frame to find the most pleasing parts as I felt the wholes were less than interesting. I’m wondering if these will become wee cards on their own or if they will be added to other larger collages that decide to make themselves known.

These four are definitely a series, I like that the colours and shapes find themselves in each one

At the moment I am feeling uncertain about whether any of them are more than exercises, even if I like them. And where to go from here is the big question?

I’d love to hear any reactions from readers. Do you see something? Do you feel they speak of something or is the fact that the intention was to experiment, to learn about media and composition, all that is coming through.

Does an artist have to have a specified intention before an abstract can accomplish more than just splash?

hmm, I may have to get further into some books!